NerdTrivia as a Method of Assessment
Nerd Trivia is a Twitter based interactive game where questions are asked and answers are given via direct message. An @ message is generated to indicate whether or not your answer was given as correct. I had never really considered this as a tool for education it was a distraction (a happy one at that). However, after reading about how it was constructed using Twitter's API, I got to thinking about how this idea could be extended to education. Sure, there is a natural fit in the K-12 realm, where drilling and memorization has to occur out of necessity to form the building blocks for later knowledge. But those idea do extend to higher education in some respects. The open ended questions are a good way (well better than, say multiple choice) to test one's knowledge - sure they could google the answer - but in the context of a course - does it matter how the student gets to know the answer? Whether they find it themselves or know it from a lecture, or video they've viewed it does not seem to me important. What is important is that they were driven to find it.
What I Use My iPad For
I use my iPad to check e-mail, view websites and general surf. Yes I could use a laptop (except my laptop, a Lenovo ThinkPad's power supply died a year after purchase, repaired once, lasted another month, then died again), but a laptop is much less elegant than the iPad, plus there's a bunch of apps (Instagram, FaceTime) that live in the iOS device world that don't exist elsewhere. I have looked at some music making apps (the Korg DS-10 and Garage Band) and they look good, but I have concerns about cloud based storage (not sold on the idea) and if the device dies, I have to pay heftily to get another device and then re-sync the app. Not elegant in management. In software, it's the same on my PC, but it feels normal and I have a workflow for it.
I use it as a consumption device primarily, which is the intended design. I'd like to get a HDMI out so I could shoot my window to the large TV - maybe that'll come in time.
More EduDIY Stuff
I can't in good faith (a word I use very carefully) believe that the only example of Learning that can be found on the web is the arduino electronics framework. At least that's what I've taken from this e-book: Learning Freedom and the Web. While it's positioned as a manifesto, gallery curated guide or puff piece for Mozilla - it falls flat of doing what open source is good at, not worrying about how good it is and getting the job done. It misses the mark. This comes off as some sort of Microsoft-lite apology piece. Now, admittedly I'm not a fan of the author, but I am a fan of the content. I can put aside my thoughts of the author in this case, because I love the stuff in the book so much. However, I'm not impressed at the connections between the three distinct concepts (and I think there's easy ones to make that aren't done very well here). I think there's a definite hands-on bent that could've been strengthened by bringing in how other people do it and elaborating on why the Mozilla approach (for lack of a better term) is better. The Arduino chapter could've gone into detail about it's connection to PureData an open source Max/MSP competitor, which would've fleshed out the idea that open source is educational and better than the commercial versions.
Questions for 2012
1. Does the Pearson LMS gain traction with anyone seeing as Desire2Learn and Blackboard have both integrated with Google Apps for Education? It's interesting for me because the University I work at now is looking at replacing their internal e-mail system with Gmail for students to start off with, but will later expand that to everyone. They've also made an announcement that Google Apps for Education are coming, which I think is a huge deal, but everyone else seems to not be talking about too much.
2. Will web mining for information be a growth concept in 2012? I've seen Pattern, a python based toolset to access information, as well as sites developed like Ifttt which makes programming logic available to the masses in an easy to understand format (almost like Yahoo Pipes). There's a lot of hope for Ifttt, at least from my perspective, it does take a bit to manipulate to get it to work.
3. Does MITx make an impact? I suspect it will, it could change the whole model of distance education and if it's MIT that's assessing and stamping approval, that's a huge thing. However, does it mean that the credibility of MIT as a credential granting source takes a hit (ie. does more people with MIT education mean that it is worth less in the long term?) or are we looking at a real paradigm shift, where the credential means less and the knowledge exemplified means more?
4. Android tablets are cheap, but are they any match for the quality (and sheer amount of apps available for media creation) of an iPad in education? I know there's no evidence to suggest that iPads help learning (starts halfway down that page), however it does allow a form factor that beats a laptop as a mobile learning device - as we could consider any Internet enabled device a learning device - it's up to that pesky user to actually do something with it rather than play Angry Birds or Super Stickman Golf. By the way, Android tablets also have Angry Birds. And Super Stickman Golf - so consider your productivity screwed on either device.
5. Will Learning Technologists become even more important a bridge for faculty and technology? I provide support for the LMS at the institution but I also can help design learning, use different strategies and suggest ways to embed learning deeper by using different tools in and outside the LMS. I'm a big fan of wikis providing they are used in a way that support and demonstrate the learning. I think there's two ways institutions can go - one tell faculty to just worry about teaching and research, and let the technical side be developed by a techie. The other is to demand the faculty learn the technology, and use it to be supported by a techie. Either way, the technologist is there to support. I think the successful institutions will have technologists that can be given room to explore where the technology is going without being too far ahead of the faculty needs. That sweet spot is hard to find, and lots of institutions will fail at it.
Answers for 2011
Well, I guess a year's time is as good as any to have some answers - even if the answer may very well be no answer. For the original post see: Questions for 2011. Yes, there will also be a Questions for 2012.
1. What makes anyone think that the video games push (mostly by the iOS platform devices, but Xbox, Playstation and Wii) has anything to do with formal education?
Well, I don't know if gamification gained any traction, but things like achievements in video games have lent themselves to things like badges. I suspect that my original assertion that it will be marginalized, will remain until someone can quantify and measure the whole process, much like they've tried to do with standardized testing.
2. Why haven't educational institutions really pushed for a mobile learning environment?
I think there's been some motion here - certainly the open courses are structured so that they are mobile friendly, and the big two LMS vendors (Desire2Learn and Blackboard) are both becoming more mobile friendly, I suspect the resistance comes from the institution's inability to control and verify that a potentially mobile student may not be that student, and the only way to assess a person is still in-person. I don't think it matters anymore, in work most people will use the Internet to research a possible solution to whatever problem they face, so knowing something isn't as crucial as it once was. Knowing something however does allow you to find a solution sooner - making you a more efficient worker - which is what capitalism wants.
3. Will the consolidation of the web conferencing tools that education typically use (Wimba and Elluminate) mean that new companies with new models will arise?
Well, they haven't arisen yet, but there's a plethora of tools out there to replace Blackboard Collaborate or whatever it's called this week. However, no one has put together the killer app - which I hope is the form the web conferencing takes - mobile native, low bandwidth friendly, and most of all, accessible.
4. Wither edupunk?
Yup. edu-post-punk should be interesting.
5. What will Pearson as a publishing giant and accredited University mean?
Turns out, not much. Unless you consider an extremely walled off garden of textbooks in a proprietary LMS with Google Doc integration something.
Facilitator Development Workshop Reflections
As part of my new (although not so new anymore) job, I was asked to attend the Instructional Skills Workshop and the Facilitator Development Workshop. Both workshops were run and facilitated by my department, the Centre for Leadership in Learning. Here's some reflections about my reflections.
While the skills based workshop is interesting, it was fun to play around with time and planning. I did learn that I need to be able to tighten up my timing when I instruct with new material. However, my daily life doesn't necessarily need this constraint. The workshops I lead are typically fairly prescribed, have a flow and a rhythm all their own. I suppose I can add some more interactive elements, more discussion about the needs of users - which in turn would allow for deeper embedding of the skills I typically teach.
The facilitation workshop was far more involved, much more draining (never mind being five straight days, rather than the four days interspersed) and far more revealing. It was interesting that in facilitation feedback circles, I tended to be much more reflective, taking much more time to respond than when I would be facilitating, or teaching where I would be able to respond almost immediately. It's an interesting difference, because I always thought I was a bit of a ponderer, taking time to craft my answers carefully, almost labouring over the language and words. I'm still thinking about what the difference is.
The really key point that I came away with was that facilitation is difficult to do in person, it does rely on non-verbal cues to really work well. As a facilitator you have to gather the mood of the room, have some sense of how things are going. Are those possible online? Is it possible to sense how someone feels online? I suppose, but it's fundamentally different. The mediation that occurs makes it more difficult to get a sense, or to "feel" how something is going. I suspect that reducing the transactional distance is one strategy that helps, but still I can't imagine facilitation face-to-face has a great effect on one's skill online.
So, I leave you with this: what skills does a facilitator need online, in addition to the ones that they would need in a face-to-face environment?
Victorian post-Cyberpunk
I think the popular perception that we’re a lot like the Victorians is in large part correct. One way is that we’re all constantly in a state of ongoing technoshock, without really being aware of it—it’s just become where we live. The Victorians were the first people to experience that, and I think it made them crazy in new ways. We’re still riding that wave of craziness. We’ve gotten so used to emergent technologies that we get anxious if we haven’t had one in a while.
William Gibson, interviewed by the Paris Review
It's interesting to look back and see the development of technology, and see how reaction mirrors to modern day attitudes - we see a lot of hand wringing about social skills (kids these days don't have any!) and writing skills. What we often fail to notice is that a lot of these criticisms were also laid at the feet of television, radio, recorded music, books and other technologies. This is a constant refrain from those critical of media in general, and usually amounts to nothing. The criticisms of violence on television dating back to the 50's? Well it turns out that exposure to violent imagery can make one more aggressive, but humans are complex creatures and to draw cause and effect type conclusions are not useful and usually are misleading. So does that mean that 50 years of "violent" programming the sum total is a resounding "meh"? Who is to say that increased aggressive behaviour is a direct response to the widening social gap and promise of "you'll be lucky to be as well off as your parents" that the current and subsequent generations will live under? The will to survive is a primal one after all.
So it's interesting to note when people predict whether a new technology will make another one obsolete (radio, television, land line telephones) it rarely happens - the same occurs with social issues. There will be some decline in social graces, but for the most part, people will behave, co-operate when it benefits them (and sometimes when it doesn't) and things won't change that much. Hindsight's a wonderful thing isn't it?
Google/Pearson LMS
So I've been fairly critical of the Pearson/Google LMS - I really don't like the idea of Google getting it's hands on educational demographic data - especially in the K-12 market, which is a market that many advertisers salivate over (kids after all, drive parental purchase decisions). I also dislike the idea that one publisher has a step up in regards to content published within the LMS. When I hear the words "open" and "free", I don't think of Google (although Android is a tasty alternative mobile OS) or Pearson. Stephen Downes started a thread on Google+ that deals with a lot of the criticisms that I raise as well.
Pearson, in my experience, have tried to muscle in on LMS territory for a long while. I can recall being embedded in a Language Studies department and Pearson making presentations to faculty about how things like MyCommLab, their textbook/website/testing one-stop solution and boasted of their integration with a series of LMSs. Well, they couldn't exchange marks data with Desire2Learn, and they couldn't even think of how First Class might integrate with it. Turns out the integration they had was with Blackboard (which wasn't available at my institution).
Even when presented with a space on Desire2Learn, Pearson couldn't figure out a good way to export marks from the MyCommLab to Desire2Learn. Now they may have fixed that issue, I haven't worked with Pearson or my former employer for a year now. Somehow I doubt it. Technologically, it's actually not that hard, myCommLab would have to export a CSV in the way that D2L expects it. Even more slick would be an XML transfer of data using the IMS standards and some ASP/PHP code to facilitate that exchange. Seems that Pearson and I have different ideas of what "open" and "free" mean.
Here's another issue. Google makes a lot of money gathering information about you. They already know a lot, and they do see knowing you as a value statement. Combine knowing about you and what you want to know about in school provides a whole different dimension of you. I've harped on about how different facets of one's life manifest themselves in different online personas. Google+ doesn't allow for my school persona to be apart from my record collecting punk persona or my techno-programmer persona. Google (and Facebook) sees me as one person, and that one person can only have one persona. If you look at my Amazon profile, you'll see I've bought conspiracy books, edtech books, punk history books, an anime DVD and a VHS to USB dongle. It's a bit of a mish mash. Amazon recommends some weird stuff, most of it correct, but it doesn't have the context to understand that the conspiracy books were gifts for my brother (at his request). I don't have much time for conspiracies the equivalent of modern day science fiction. Google is attempting, by gathering all your data from all your personas, to understand you real world contexts.
Those misgivings aside, my cynical side wants to have more separation between publishers and academics (much like the illusionary separation of church and state).
NOTE: After I originally posted this, Google has clarified it's position with the OpenClass LMS. Which makes OpenClass even less useful in my opinion. I still wonder if I can import a McGraw Hill package into a course?
Use What Works.
Use what works. That's what it always comes down to for me, especially when people are talking about technology. That's why I got interested in this comparison between iPads and Netbooks in a 1:1 project. This first article in a promised series focuses on cost. Yes, I do admit that cost is always a factor, a concern and a pressing interest from supervisors and those who control the purse-strings. Yes, it's important to not flush away money (my bank account and pitiful pension contributions can attest to that). Isn't there something else to consider though - the experience?
The article concludes with a rousing support for Netbooks, and in the current way education works, it makes sense. Yes, Netbooks are cheaper, provide more bang for the buck, may even be a better tool for the job. Maybe the iPad, or any other tablet if you want to cut costs, works better for collaboration (in fact, I'd suggest based on how I've seen it work, it does). Anytime you have a keyboard you inevitably have one controller of the device. With tablets, I've seen first hand how people are more willing to share duties on it - searching for something on Google, then passing the tablet to a colleague, then collectively watching a video. I'm not saying that people can't do that on a Netbook, they absolutely can, but intuitively, they treat them differently. I think people treat different computers, well, differently.
For the purpose of the comparison, they needed students to create media. I'm still not sure on how good a media creation device the iPad is. I think the iPhone has much more capabilities for better media capture out of the box. Certainly the form factor of an iPad is a draw back for media capture. I'm actually going to be a bit of a snob and say that neither a Netbook nor an iPad are ideal. I'd say buy a fleet of Netbooks, then add a dedicated video/audio multimedia machine with the savings. With all that said, I think the iPad is a much better device, for surfing the web (even with the Flash embargo, most well designed modern sites that use Flash have an alternative available) and for consuming media. I also feel that the iPad despite it's heftier price tag is a more enjoyable experience rather than a Netbook. Most of my Netbook issues are that the whole device is cramped and poorly laid out. It's why I didn't buy a Netbook two years ago and instead bought a larger laptop. Ultimately, that was probably a wrong decision as the laptop is not a great device either. Needless to say, I like the time I've spent with the iPad and other Android based tablets, I haven't liked the time I've spent with laptops and Netbooks.
My dad, who's always been a tradesperson, told me very early on, use the tool that works. In fact it's been words to live by for me. I grew up using a 386 PC for games and Macs (a IIci that cost me a bundle) because they provided better audio tools at the time. Later I programmed using a PC that I built myself because the integrated programming environments were Windows only (this is pre-OSX). Even more recently I use the tool that works for me in the situation. I am lucky to be able to do that though. I realize that not everyone has the luxury or access to do this. I'm only here as a reminder that a dedicated tool for something is usually better than a multitool. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Comments Commentary
Commenting is apparently all the rage again. Well, whether or not turning off comments is an anti-democratic statement, or just a push to comment on one's own blog... that's the discussion really. Here's a good summary of how some folks handle comments, go there review the ideas and come back. OK, so I felt compelled to write a longer piece, but that's because I'm moved to. I suspect that most people who do not own a blog, or their own space, would not. They might however, consider leaving a comment. There two basic arguments for leaving comments on:
1. It's the whole idea behind what makes the Internet great. Communication. Two-way communication, in fact, not just a faucet of information that spits out words when you turn it on. Isn't the whole point of a blog to engage in an exchange of ideas? I typically don't respond to people who have comments turned off. I don't read D'arcy Norman's blog because it's a dead end. While he may be pushing out great ideas, and I'm sure he is, because he's written consistently good stuff. I don't bother with it. There is a clear statement (which is not intended, I'm sure) that my opinion doesn't matter. You see I like commenting on other's article in a way that's immediately reflected on that article/post. Most people won't bother clicking through trackbacks, nor searching for responses. They aren't that invested in it. Moreover, if you don't want to be bothered to curate your own blog posts why should I?
2. You create a walled garden of readers and feedback by turning comments off. Someone who stumbles on your site, who doesn't have their own Internet presence, might comment if you gave them a chance. In fact, it might be their only way to comment (besides e-mail, which seems more and more to be an imposition rather than a service). So why take it away from them? It's not taking away their voice, but it is taking away the opportunity. So why do it? I get that it feels more "yours", which is an argument that D'arcy Norman makes - however, the Internet is not your, mine or anyone's. It's ours. So if you want part of it for you, keep it to yourself. But don't expect someone else to write about it. I have an Internet presence, but I doubt I would've started had I been unable to see the exchange that goes on between Downes and the people he interacts with. It wasn't his writing that spurned me to action but the discussion around it.